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Eden Gardens curator takes sick leave

Kolkata: Unhappy with the treatment meted out to him by the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) and the BCCI, the pitch curator of the Eden Gardens, Prabir Mukherjee, has decided to take a month-long sick leave.

There were reports on Saturday that Mukherjee had resigned following his fallout with MS Dhoni and the BCCI, who had asked him to prepare a spinning track for India's third Test against England beginning December 5. But Mukherjee clarified that he hadn't resigned yet and he had taken leave on health grounds.

"I have not resigned but asked for a month’s leave," Mukherjee said while speaking to CNN-IBN. "I am not loving this atmosphere and not happy that the CAB did not support me."

Terming the demand of changing the nature of the pitch immoral, Mukherjee said he was hurt by the way the BCCI and MS Dhoni dictated terms. "I do not agree with the idea to change the pitch nature on demands of some person, this is immoral," Mukherjee, who has been preparing the pitch of the stadium since 1985, added.

Mukherjee was disappointed with CAB's attitude and said President Jagmohan Dalmiya had even threatened to suspend him if he spoke about the pitch. "Nowhere the president has the right to talk about pitches. But here they are threatening to suspend me if I talk about pitches. This is the treatment I get after more than two decades of my service at CAB," Mukherjee said.

After India suffered a humiliating 10-wicket loss to England on a spinning track in the Mumbai Test, Dhoni had insisted for a similar rank turner for the Eden Gardens Test as well. The demand prompted Mukherjee to ask for a written instruction from the BCCI and described Dhoni's demand as "unethical".

After his refusal to Dhoni's demand, Mukherjee was sidelined from the preparation of the wicket, with East Zone curator Ashish Bhowmick being brought in to oversee the ground.